Pupils at a Stepney secondary school will be helping to pick the winners of the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize this year.

A shortlist of six books was picked by a panel of adult judges including university lecturers, teachers, scientists and authors and pupils at Sir John Cass Red Coat School will work with other science schools to pick a winner.

The awards celebrate the books that educate young people about science in an accessible, creative way.

Susan Charman, the school’s librarian, said: “The Science Group were judges for the first time and really enjoyed using criteria to judge what was the best science information book from the shortlist.”

The chair of judges, professor Yadvinder Malhi, said: “The books that really stood out for me were those that tried something different, that engaged the reader in a different way or presented the science on a topic that is rarely engaged with in children’s science books.”